HD Heaven

By: Jason Colthorp

Posted: Mon 6:29 PM, Dec 01, 2008

By: Jason Colthorp

The wait for my first "real" TV was worth it.

A while back my old "boxey" Sony big screen TV died. Well, didn't die completely, more like had a stroke. I was left with a wavy picture that was almost watchable. And watch it we have for about two months. Our head engineer told me not to go get a new HDTV until Thanksgiving because that's when prices were going to come down-- way down. He actually gave me some magnetic gizmo to try and fix it or at least pinpoint the problem of the Sony, but that didn't work and repairs would have started at $300. Last week, I noticed prices hadn't come down on new TV's like I'd hoped and then came news prices weren't going to bottom out until after the Super Bowl. I couldn't risk eye problems for me and the kids in the meantime.

Saturday, the fam and I ventured out to Circuit City after extensive online research and settled on a 52" Samsung LCD 120 Hz. My wife asked why the 120 Hz was such a step up over the 60 Hz and of course my answer was "It just is." It was a couple hundred lower than I'd seen it in recent weeks so it was a family consensus to get it. Then Julie suddenly asked if we were spending all this money, why not spend $200 more to get the newest version of the TV called "The Splash of Color" version by Samsung. I couldn't give her a good answer so we upgraded. At the counter, our helpful sales guy, Cooper, informed me that wasn't in stock like he said and it we could have it delivered by Friday or Saturday. I stared at him without saying a word for at least 10 seconds thinking about another Sunday watching four football teams instead of two. Coop was at a loss. Finally, I said, "We'll take the other one."

When we got this bad boy home and set up, nothing would come in. "Set up" was a dead end. Maybe I selected the wrong "Cable" option. Suddenly, a condescending voice from the peanut gallery: "Did you select the right source?" I hit the button and... heaven. Then came the agonizingly long six seconds for me to find the HD channel broadcasting the Oklahoma-Oklahoma St. game. Wow. Perfection. So, Sunday night's family night of "AFV" and "Extreme Makeover" was even more fun on the couch for the four of us. We should have made popcorn, but no one was willing to tear ourselves away from the TV to make it.

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